With a more than 20 meter wingspan, the yellow Wing-Loong II No.01 made its appearance on the runway of a highland airfield in western China at noon Monday, before conducting a 31-minute flight.

"Its flight marks China's new generation reconnaissance and strike UAS. Following the United States, China becomes another country capable of developing such new generation large reconnaissance and strike UAS," said Li Yidong, chief designer of the Wing-Loong UAS series.

The Wing-Loong UAS series were developed by Chengdu Aircraft Design and Research Institute (CADI) of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

Li said it showed that China had the capability to deliver new generation reconnaissance and strike UAS products to foreign military customers.

In fact, the Wing-Loong II has already won the biggest overseas purchase order in the history of Chinese UAS foreign military sales, even before its maiden flight.

The Wing-Loong II is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, multi-role UAS integrated with both reconnaissance and strike capabilities.

It is composed of the Wing-Loong II unmanned aircraft, GCS, mission payload and a ground support system.

Its unmanned aircraft is 11 meters in length, 4.1 meters in height, and 20.5 meters in wingspan. The maximum flying altitude of the aircraft is 9km, with a flying speed reaching up to 340km per hour.

It has a maximum take-off weight of 4.2 tonnes, with an external carriage weight of 480kg, and can fly for 20 hours in a persistent mission cruise.

Li said that the Wing-Loong II could perform reconnaissance, surveillance and ground strike missions.

"It can rapidly identify then strike against time-critical and fleeting targets. The capability is not possessed by previous unmanned aircraft, even manned aircraft," Li said. "Taking a look at the UAS in same class around the world, the Wing-Loong II is equivalent to the U.S. MQ-9 Reaper, and ranks in the first level on the UAS list."

With a system extension, it can also perform intelligence collection, electronic warfare, search and rescue missions, and has several uses, including military, anti-terrorism, peace keeping, border patrol operations and civilian use.

Saturday, February 25, 2017

H-6K, China's only long-range strategic bomber is better known for carrying six CJ-10A cruise missiles geared for long-range and stand-off attacks. It also made news recently for its "routine" drills over the West Pacific. What is being overlooked here is its ole-school, iron bomb payload -- increased by the pair of Soloviev D-30 turbofans and extra fuel capacity -- it's 9-ton can of whoop ass can make short work of any "new structure" in the South China Sea.

6x6=36!

Case-in-point: Cavite, Luzon Island, Philippines after being bombed by American B-24 Liberators, January 1945

Before and After

CCTV capture of the day: Another "routine" drill over the West Pacific, this time with more than 40 birds

NANJING,
Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Air Force on Sunday sent more than 40
aircraft of various types to the West Pacific, via the Miyako Strait,
for a routine drill on the high seas, a spokesperson said.

Shen
Jinke, spokesperson of the People's Liberation Army Air Force, said the
fleet, including H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighters, and air tankers,
conducted reconnaissance and early warning, attacks on sea surface
targets, and in-flight refueling to test the Air Force's fighting
capacity on the high seas.

Bombers and fighters of the PLA Air
Force also conducted routine patrol in the East China Sea Air Defense
Identification Zone (ADIZ), the spokesperson said at an east China
airport.

Shen said routine drills in the West Pacific and patrols
in the East China Sea ADIZ are conducted "in accordance with the needs
of the Air Force to defend national sovereignty and security, as well as
to maintain peaceful development."

Since the East China Sea ADIZ was set up nearly three years ago, the Air Force has kept regular patrols.

The
Air Force will continue patrolling in the East China Sea ADIZ to uphold
the legitimate rights and interests of China. It will keep conducting
various training to improve its combat capacity, Shen said.

Monday, March 30, 2015

H-6K conducted its first long-range maritime strike exercise in the West Pacific

PLA Air Force conducts first training in West Pacific

(Source: China Military Online) 2015-03-30

BEIJING, March 30 (ChinaMil) -- In order to promote its maneuvering
combat capability, the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army
(PLAAF) for the first time organized its aviation troops to go to the
airspace above the West Pacific Ocean to carry out military training,
Shen Jinke, spokesman of the PLA Air Force, said in south China’s
Guangzhou province on March 30, 2015.

The warplanes of the PLA Air Force flew to the West Pacific for
training via the Bashi Channel on March 30 and returned on the same day
after finishing the training and achieving the given goal, according to
Shen.

Training in the airspace far from China is an effective way for the
PLA Air Force to temper its combat capability and also a common practice
of world powers' air forces, Col. Shen said.

Shen said that the military training in the airspace above the Western
Pacific by the PLA Air Force is a routine arrangement of the annual
training plan for the PLA Air Force and also a normal requirement of
China's national defense construction.

Shen pointed out that this training by the PLA Air Force complies with
relevant international laws and practices, is not aimed at any country
or target and poses no threat to any country or region.

Monday, January 05, 2015

Photo of the day: The aggressor H-6K practicing a low-level penetration
bomb run against a PLAAF anti-defense brigade during a confrontational
drill

The newsworthy of this picture is not the low-level penetration bomb run
-- which the K model is primarily designed to perform -- rather the
serial number of 11193 confirming that the PLAAF 8th Bomber Division now
has at least 14 H-6K (god of war) model in its orbat.

The other H-6K unit is the PLAAF 10th bomber division

Sunday, November 17, 2013

PLAAF "in the news" of the day: H-6K, god-of-war (small g)

H-6K bombers delivered to PLA Air Force

By Chen Boyuan
China.org.cn, June 22, 2013

http://www.china.org.cn/china/2013-06/22/content_29197824.htm

The
Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force recently received 15 H-6K
bombers with nuclear capabilities, according to British military digest
Jane’s Defence Weekly.

The H-6K, an updated version of the H-6
bomber, is a medium-sized craft designed for long-range attacks,
stand-off attacks and large-area air patrol. Unlike its predecessor, the
H-6K can carry cruise missiles under its wings. The H6-K also maneuvers
more deftly than the H-6 and requires a smaller crew to operate. Jane’s
Defence was the first media outlet to confirm that the H6-K had
formally entered active service.

The most visible departure from
the H-6 is the H6-K’s nose, where a nose randome has replaced a
navigation cabin. Military expert Fu Qianshao said that the H6-K’s nose
should greatly improve avionics, search and detection, navigation, fire
control and weapon precision.

Fu said that the H-6K has a larger
engine inlet than does the H-6, which may mean that the newer bomber’s
engines have greater thrust. If so, the H-6K would also have a greater
maximum takeoff weight and payload than the H-6. A more favorable
weight-to-thrust ratio would improve fuel efficiency and lengthen
cruising range, Fu said.

H-6K reportedly has a combat radius of
3,500 KM. The nuclear-capable Changjian (long sword)-10 cruise missiles
it carries have a range of 1,500-2,000 KM, effectively extending the
bomber’s combat range to 4,000-5,000 KM - long enough to reach Okinawa,
Guam and even Hawaii from China’s mainland.

Analysts stipulated
that PLA Air Force missiles be able to reach Taiwan, southwestern Japan
and Guam, a range of control that requires a 3,000-KM combat radius and
powerful attack capability. Only the combined combat radii of the H6-K
and Changjian-10 currently satisfy the length requirement.

Yup, Norinco just converted an old Type79 MBT into a snowblower. This concept is so over-the-top, it blows.

The same MBT concept also applied to fire-fighting

A firefighting tank maneuvers through a fire during a test in Wuhan city, Central China's Hubei province, August 28, 2011. The local fire department paid 3.2 million yuan ($501,000) in May, 2010 to buy the multifunctional firefighting tank - the first and only one in Hubei province – which can be used to deal with emergencies to rescue people and fight fires. The tank can safely enter dangerous fires including oil and chemical warehouses. The tank passed initial tests and will be put into full service. [Photo/CFP]

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Calculating the amphibious assets of a 10-ship formation can project, using "China Naval Modernization: Implications for U.S. Navy Capabilities -- Background and Issues for Congress" by Ronald O'Rourke and "Chinese Naval Shipbuilding: An Ambitious and Uncertain Course" edited by Andrew S. Erickson as the main references, here's the result:

A Yuzhou Class Type 071 LPD is capable of carrying four helicopters and a naval infantry battalion with twenty armored fighting vehicles. This would typically total five hundred to eight hundred assault troops per ship.